Trandumskogen
Encyclopedia
Trandumskogen is a forest located in Ullensaker
, Akershus
county, Norway
. It was the site of one of the first discoveries in May 1945 of German
mass grave
s in Norway
. The German executioner
Oskar Hans was the officer in command of the unit performing the executions.
In total 173 Norwegians
, 6 British
citizens and 15 Russians
were executed in Trandumskogen. Many had been sentenced to death by the German occupation forces, but there was also a great number who were subject to arbitrary executions. After the Second World War
, Norwegian citizens sentenced for treason
, and leading members of the Norwegian national socialist party Nasjonal Samling were forced to open the graves and exhume the bodies of the executed prisoners.
On 10 October 1954, the memorial in Trandumskogen was unveiled. H. H. K. Crown Prince Olav stood for the ceremony. Per Palle Storm (1910-1994), artist and sculptor and professor at the National Art Academy had carried out the artistic part of the work. The memorial is carved of light Granite
(Iddefjordgranitt). To the south side an inscription is carved in Norwegian. The same text translated into Russian is cut into the east side and in English to the west side. The memorial is located south of the burial ground. The memorial lists the names of those who were executed there. The memorial has status as a Norwegian national memorial.
The text on the memorial reads:
Ullensaker
Ullensaker is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jessheim. It has a population of approximately 30,000 inhabitants...
, Akershus
Akershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
county, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. It was the site of one of the first discoveries in May 1945 of German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. The German executioner
Executioner
A judicial executioner is a person who carries out a death sentence ordered by the state or other legal authority, which was known in feudal terminology as high justice.-Scope and job:...
Oskar Hans was the officer in command of the unit performing the executions.
In total 173 Norwegians
Norwegians
Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...
, 6 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
citizens and 15 Russians
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
were executed in Trandumskogen. Many had been sentenced to death by the German occupation forces, but there was also a great number who were subject to arbitrary executions. After the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Norwegian citizens sentenced for treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
, and leading members of the Norwegian national socialist party Nasjonal Samling were forced to open the graves and exhume the bodies of the executed prisoners.
On 10 October 1954, the memorial in Trandumskogen was unveiled. H. H. K. Crown Prince Olav stood for the ceremony. Per Palle Storm (1910-1994), artist and sculptor and professor at the National Art Academy had carried out the artistic part of the work. The memorial is carved of light Granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
(Iddefjordgranitt). To the south side an inscription is carved in Norwegian. The same text translated into Russian is cut into the east side and in English to the west side. The memorial is located south of the burial ground. The memorial lists the names of those who were executed there. The memorial has status as a Norwegian national memorial.
The text on the memorial reads:
- IN THE COMBAT FOR FREEDOM
DURING THE 1940-1945 WAR
173 NORWEGIANS 15 SOVJET-
SUBJECTS AND 6 BRITONS WERE
HERE IN THE WOODS OF TRAN-
DUM EXECUTED BY THE ENEMY